As well as remembering its dead, Hull established its own charity called the Hull Great War Trust to offer practical assistance to disabled Hull servicemen and their families. The Hull Dail Mail had long reported many cases of financial hardship, where discharged soldiers and their families, were receiving little or no support. (see HDM 21/7/17 for example)

The Hull Great War Trust was initiated by Hull shipping brothers, Frank Orlando Hellyer and Owen Stooks Hellyer. They wrote to the Lord Mayor of Hull in February 1918, with a donation of £30,000, seeking to help those who returned from the war.

The Great War Trust was established immediately after the Armistice in 1918. Based at the Guildhall, it was registered under the 1916 War Charities Act and appealed for £500,000 from voluntary subscriptions. By December,1918, it had raised £90,000, from all sections of the community, with most of the donations coming from well known fishing families at St Andrews Dock.